A witness has told the High Court at Wellington about a trip she took from Auckland with Nicholas Pike, a young Palmerston North drug dealer who disappeared in 2002.
Stephen Hudson, 39, is charged with murdering Mr Pike near the Desert Road in March 2002.
The Crown says Mr Hudson believed Nicholas Pike was informing on him to police and owed him drug money.
Cindy Vrins told the court that during a road trip in the central North Island, Mr Hudson stopped the car on the Desert Road, told her to get out and he and Mr Pike drove off down a side road.
Ms Vrins says Mr Hudson returned alone and said he was growing some cannabis plants in a tent there and Mr Pike was going to keep an eye on them.
